Office of Compensation Analysis and 

Support

Document Number: Battelle-TBD-6001 

Appendix AA 

Effective Date: 6/15/2007 

Revision No. 0 

Site Profiles for Atomic Weapons Employers that Refined 

Uranium and Thorium 

Appendix AA – Hooker Electrochemical Company

Page 1 of 10 

Document Owner: David Allen 

Approval:__Signature on file_______ Date: _6/14/2007___ 

 J.W. Neton, Associate Director for Science 

Supersedes: None 

RECORD OF ISSUE/REVISIONS 

ISSUE 

AUTHORIZATION 

DATE 

6/15/2007

EFFECTIVE 

DATE 

6/15/2007 

REV. NO. 

0 

DESCRIPTION 

Appendix to Battelle-TBD-6001 describing 

the use of the TBD for claims at Hooker 

Electrochemical Company 

HOOKER ELECTROCHEMICAL COMPANY 

AA.1 Introduction 

This document serves as an appendix to Battelle-TBD-6001, Site Profiles for Atomic 

Weapons Employers that Refined Uranium and Thorium. This appendix describes the 

results of document research specific to this site. Where specific information is lacking, 

research into similar facilities described in the body of this Site Profile is used. 

AA.2 Site Description 

The Hooker Electrochemical Company (HEC) was located in Niagara Falls, New York. 

From January, 1943 until June, 1948 under contract No W-7405 eng-28 with the 

Manhattan Engineering District (MED), HEC manufactured various organic chemicals 

including xylene hexafluoride (P-45), xylene hexachloride, and Miller’s Fluoro Lubricant 

(MFL). While these processes in themselves did not involve radioactive materials, 

during part of this period, hydrochloric acid, a byproduct of the P-45 process, was used to 

chemically treat uranium bearing C-2 slag as a precursor to uranium recovery (Ref ID 

11002, pg 58). 

The HEC site used under the MED program was the “D” area, 5.5 acres located on the 

north bank of the Niagara River in Niagara Falls, NY, about 2 miles east of the falls. Five 

buildings on this site, D-5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were used under the contract with MED (1943-

48). The bulk of uranium handling was conducted outdoors in an area by the railroad 
Office of Compensation Analysis and Document Number: Battelle-TBDSupport 6001 

Appendix AA 

Effective Date: 6/15/2007 Revision No. 0 Page 2 of 10 

siding north of these buildings. This activity involved the chemical processing of 

uranium-bearing slag for recovery purposes (Ref ID 11002, pg 39, 58). 

The covered period for Hooker Electrochemical is listed by the Department of Energy’s 

Office of Worker Advocacy as 1943 through 1948 and includes both radioactive material 

processing and nonradioactive chemical production activities for the Manhattan Engineer 

District (MED)1

. The only weapons-related radiation exposure occurred while 

processing of uranium contaminated slag for MED. A 49’ x 28’ x 25’ cinder block 

building to contain some of the necessary equipment was constructed under a letter of 

intent dated May 1944. Construction was completed and the building turned over to the 

Operating Department on July 11 1944 (Ref ID 11002, pg 112). No documentation was 

found indicating there were other sources of radiation, commercial or weapons-related, at 

Hooker Electrochemical. 

A process description indicates this process was sufficient to take care of the excess HCl 

from the P-45 process (Ref ID 16323, pg 29-30). The P-45 process ended on January 15, 

1946 (Ref ID 17125, pg 29). This document establishes the period of operational 

radiation exposure from July 11, 1944 to January 15, 1946. It is possible that the slagprocessing occurred for an even shorter period since some start up period would be 

expected. This analysis assumes a period of residual radioactivity exposure from January 

16, 1946 to October 11, 1976, the date when measurements for radiation and radioactivity 

onsite were made and it was concluded that no elevated levels of radioactivity were 

onsite (Ref ID 10797, pg 11). 

AA.2.1 Site Activities 

The MED radiation work at Hooker Electrochemical was the concentration of uranium 

from slag, which had been sent to the Hooker site from the Electrometallurgical 

Company (Ref ID 11002, pg 58). This material was primarily reduction bomb (dolomite) 

liners with an approximate composition of 90% magnesium fluoride and 10% calcium 

oxide. (The term bomb, as used here, refers to a device used to contain a particular 

chemical process.) The slag reportedly contained approximately one pound of uranium 

per 500 pounds of slag (Ref ID 16323, pg 29-30). A former employee indicated, “All the 

uranium handling was done outdoors in an area adjacent to the railroad siding located 

north of the MED buildings;” however the completion of the cinder block building 

(49’x28’x25’) in July 1944 indicate some of the uranium work occurred indoors (Ref ID 

11002, pg 112). 

A description of the process is contained in a Data Sheet for Industrial Hazards, dated 

December 8, 1944 (Ref ID 16323, pg 29-30). 

Slag is received in barrels containing about 500 lbs. The barrels are opened and the 

material is dumped on a conveyor belt which carries it up a ramp to one of the three 

digest tanks. 40 barrels are added to each tank. Waste HCl from the P-45 plant is 

passed into the digest tank and the pH is adjusted to 4.0 by the addition of water. After 

the tank has been filled, the contents are agitated for 20 hours. About once in two days a 

tank is emptied, which is sufficient turn-over to take care of waste HCl. At the 
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Appendix AA 

Effective Date: 6/15/2007 Revision No. 0 Page 3 of 10 

completion of the digest the slurry is neutralized by dumping 100-lb. bags of lime into the 

tanks from an overhead platform, pumped to a plate and frame press, and filtered. The 

filtrate is passed off into the sewer; the precipitate is washed several times and 

rebarreled. Slag is concentrated from about 1 lb. [of uranium] to 5 or 10 lbs. [of 

uranium] by weight.

A former employee remembered the process started by dumping approximately 20 

barrels per day (approximately 5 tons), then the work increased to approximately 40 

barrels per day (approximately 10 tons). The Data Sheet for Industrial Hazards indicated 

the production rate was 10 tons per month. A War Department memo dated 3/8/1945 

requested medical clearance for the termination of the Hooker Electrochemical contract. 

This memo indicated a total of 152 tons of slag were processed through this system and 

that it operated from July 1944 through January 15, 1946 (Ref ID 17125, pg 29-30). At 

10 tons per month, this timeframe would equal 180 tons. This appears to be consistent 

with the former employee who indicated the process rate started slower but then 

increased. Taken together, these sources indicate the barrels were emptied approximately 

one day per month. They also imply only the liquid contents were decanted off 

approximately every two days and replaced with additional hydrochloric acid. At the 

completion of the digestion, the remaining material was neutralized, filtered and 

drummed for shipment. 

AA.2.2 Job Categories 

Each claim will be evaluated to determine the most appropriate Job Category from the list 

below. 

Plant Floor High (Involved directly in operations) 

Plant Floor Low (Involved in support of operations) 

Supervisor 

Clerical 

AA.3 Occupational Medical Dose 

The War Department memo dated 3/8/1945 indicated the medical requirements included 

a pre-employment exam including a chest x-ray as well as a monthly blood count and 

monthly urinalysis. It also indicates there were no special exams and that this schedule 

was not adhered to after the first year of operation (Ref ID 17125, pg 29-30). No other 

information regarding occupational medical dose specific to Hooker Electrochemical was 

found. Information to be used in dose reconstructions for which no specific information 

is available is provided in ORAUT-OTIB-0006, the dose reconstruction project technical 

information bulletin covering diagnostic x-ray procedures. The assigned frequency 

should be only a pre-employment chest x-ray. 

AA.4 Occupational Internal Dose 

No data were found in the Site Research database related to occupational internal dose 

during AEC work. The work performed at Hooker Electrochemical involved 
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Appendix AA 

Effective Date: 6/15/2007 Revision No. 0 Page 4 of 10 

concentrating C-2 slag material using hydrochloric acid (HCl). Therefore, the air 

concentration values in this TBD for "Scrap Recovery" are used to calculate internal 

doses. The dumping operation was assumed to be similar to the Furnace operator (trays) 

since that provides the highest air concentration for scrap recovery. This operation was 

assumed to take place one day per month or 5% of the work time. For the remaining 

time, the primary operation was to allow the slag to digest in tanks of HCl. However, 

there was some decanting and eventually some filtering of the concentrated slag. This 

operation was assumed to be similar to the filtering done for scrap recovery. 

The uranium concentration in the C-2 slag was below what was normally considered 

economically feasible for recovery. According to the process description, the slag 

contained about 1 pound of uranium in a 500 pound barrel or about 0.2% uranium by 

mass. This TBD provides a value for the furnace operator (pre-1951) based on a 

geometric mean air concentration of 822 dpm/m3

 uranium. This is equivalent to 0.587 

mg/m3

 of uranium. Since the uranium is approximately 0.2% of the material, this is equal 

to a dust concentration in the air of 293 mg/m3

. This is an extremely high dust 

concentration. It is likely high dust concentrations resulted from the dumping operation; 

however, it is also likely this value will bound the concentration that could have been 

present when averaged over an entire work day. Therefore, the geometric mean values in 

this TBD are considered bounding and will be used as a constant. 

Similarly, the filtrate contained about 2% uranium mass concentration while the filtrate 

from typical scrap recovery operations would be much higher. Therefore, the geometric 

mean values in this TBD are considered bounding and will be used as a constant. 

AA.5 Occupational External Dose 

No data were found in the Site Research database related to occupational external dose 

during AEC work. The work performed at Hooker Electrochemical involved 

concentrating C-2 slag material using HCl. Therefore, the external dose rates in the TBD 

for "Scrap Recovery" are used to calculate external doses. All the values will be used for 

5% of the time (1 day per month) for the barrel dumping operations. Only the value 

related to surface contamination will be used for the remaining time. 

The uranium concentration in the C-2 slag was below what was normally considered 

economically feasible for recovery. According to the process description, the slag 

contained about 1 pound of uranium in a 500 pound barrel or about 0.2% uranium by 

mass. As with the internal dose section of this appendix, the geometric mean value will 

be considered a bounding estimate of external radiation exposure due to the low 

concentration in the slag compared to the material used in the operations used to derive 

the TBD values. 

AA.6 Residual Contamination 

For the purposes of this appendix, the residual contamination period at Hooker 

Electrochemical is considered to begin on January 15, 1946 and end on 10/11/1976. The 

end date is based on the Residual Contamination report2

 and the date of the radiological 
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Appendix AA 

Effective Date: 6/15/2007 Revision No. 0 Page 5 of 10 

survey that concluded that no elevated levels of radioactivity were onsite (Ref ID 10797, 

pg 11). 

The external dose rates used during this period are the dose rates contained in the TBD 

from the surface contamination only for scrap recovery operations. As with the internal 

and external dose sections of this appendix, the geometric mean value will be considered 

a bounding estimate of external radiation exposure due to the low concentration in the 

slag compared to the material used in the operations used to derive the TBD values. 

The internal dose rates are based on the average air concentration during operations (from

section C.4) assumed to deposit throughout an entire work year with no removal. This 

deposited contamination is assumed to resuspend with a resuspension factor of 1E-6 m-1. 
Office of Compensation Analysis and 

Support 

Document Number: Battelle-TBD6001 

Appendix AA 

Effective Date: 6/15/2007 Revision No. 0 Page 6 of 10 

AA.7 References 

1. DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security, EEOICPA web site. 

http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/fwsp/advocacy/faclist/findfacility.cfm 

2. Report on Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination at Atomic Weapons 

Employer Facilities and Beryllium Vender Facilities. 

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/pdfs/tbd/rescon/rcontam1206.pdf 

3. RefID 10797 U.S. Department of Energy, 1977, Formerly Utilized MED/AEC Sites 

Remedial Action Program, Radiological Survey of the Hooker Chemical Company, 

Niagara Falls, New York, Final Report, Washington, D.C., January. 

4. RefID 11002 pp. 39 F.T. Olotka, 1979, Letter to William E Mott regarding review 

and comments of a March 1979 letter to J Gallery. April 18 

5. RefID 11002 pp. 58 U.S. Department of Energy, 1985, Formerly Utilized Sites 

Remedial Action Report Elimination Report for Occidental Chemical Corporation 

(Former Hooker Electrochemical Company) Niagara Falls, New York, Washington, 

D.C. 

6. RefID 11002 pp. 102-112 Dowling, Francis A., c. 1944, Completion Report, 

Construction of Hooker Electrochemical Company P-45 Plant, Contract No. W7405-ENG-28, Tonawanda Area-Manhattan District. 

7. RefID 16323 pp. 29-30 Manhattan District, 1944, “Medical Section – Manhattan 

District, Data Sheets for Industrial Hazard Rating”. 

 8. RefID 17125 pp. 29-30 Mears, B.J., 1946, memorandum to The District Engineer, 

“Medical Clearance on Terminated Madison Square Area Contracts,” Manhattan 

District, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, March 8. 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6001; Appendix AA Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 6/15/2007 

Table AA.1 INTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Inhalation of Airborne Radionuclides Assumptions: TBD Table 8.29, Scrap Recovery Furnace Operator (Trays) Conversion Factor :2.22 dpm/pCi Breathing Rate: 1.2 m^3/hour All intakes and doses are the operational and residual period specified in the appendix, not full years. 

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase 

Relevant 

Nuclide 

Intake 

(pCi/d) TBD Reference or Research Justifi

Plant Floor High 1944-1946 Operations U234 156 TBD-6001 Table 8.29 and appendix text Plant Floor Low 1944-1946 Operations U234 78 TBD-6001 Table 8.29 and appendix text Supervisor 1944-1946 Operations U234 39 TBD-6001 Table 8.29 and appendix text Clerical 1944-1946 Operations U234 3.9 TBD-6001 Table 8.29 and appendix text All 1946-1976 Residual U234 1.0 appendix text 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6001; Appendix AA Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 6/15/2007 

Table AA.2 INTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Ingestion Assumptions: TBD Table 8.30, Scrap Recovery Furnace Operator (Trays) Conversion Factor :2.22 dpm/pCi Breathing Rate: 1.2 m^3/hour All intakes and doses are the operational and residual period specified in the appendix, not full years. 

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase 

Relevant 

Nuclide 

Intake 

(pCi/d) TBD Reference or Research Justifi

Plant Floor High 1944-1946 Operations U234 1.45E+00 TBD-6001 Table 8.30 and appendix text Plant Floor Low 1944-1946 Operations U234 7.27E-01 TBD-6001 Table 8.30 and appendix text Supervisor 1944-1946 Operations U234 3.64E-01 TBD-6001 Table 8.30 and appendix text Clerical 1944-1946 Operations U234 3.64E-02 TBD-6001 Table 8.30 and appendix text All 1946-1976 Residual U234 9.42E-03 appendix text 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6001; Appendix AA Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 6/15/2007 

Table AA.3 EXTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Whole Body Assumptions: TBD Table 7.3, Scrap Recovery Conversion Factor :2.22 dpm/pCi Breathing Rate: 1.2 m^3/hour All intakes and doses are the operational and residual period specified in the appendix, not full years. 

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase 

Whole body 

(mr/d) TBD Reference or Research Justification

Plant Floor High 1944-1946 Operations 4.02E-01 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and appendix text Plant Floor Low 1944-1946 Operations 2.01E-01 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and appendix text Supervisor 1944-1946 Operations 1.01E-01 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and appendix text Clerical 1944-1946 Operations 1.01E-02 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and appendix text Plant Floor High 1946-1976 Residual 3.76E-01 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and appendix text Plant Floor Low 1946-1976 Residual 1.88E-01 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and appendix text Supervisor 1946-1976 Residual 9.40E-02 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and appendix text Clerical 1946-1976 Residual 9.40E-03 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and appendix text 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6001; Appendix AA Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 6/15/2007 

Table AA.3 EXTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Skin Assumptions: TBD Table 7.3, Scrap Recovery Conversion Factor :2.22 dpm/pCi Breathing Rate: 1.2 m^3/hour All intakes and doses are the operational and residual period specified in the appendix, not full years. 

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase 

Hand/Forearms

(mr/d) 

Other Skin 

(mr/d) TBD Reference or Re

Plant Floor High 1944-1946 Operations 11.0 0.98 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and Plant Floor Low 1944-1946 Operations 5.5 0.49 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and Supervisor 1944-1946 Operations 2.7 0.24 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and Clerical 1944-1946 Operations 0.3 0.02 TBD-6001 Table 7.3 and